Steve 'Flash' Juon“So damn high I ain’t feeling my teeth.”
Where and when possible I always try to give an artist a second chance. If I was underwhelmed by my first listen, and they heard similar feedback from other listeners, there’s at least the possibility that it was an isolated experience. People can grow and improve. “Metal Gear Sub” was so early in Sub9K’s career (2018) that I was almost convinced it couldn’t be representative of his entire catalogue. To give Sub his fair shot I decided to take an album from a few years later and check out “Devil Trigger.” You can do so as well since the album’s available everywhere. Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube. His distribution game is on point, which is important given just how prolific his releases are.
“I’m fresh out the water looking like I’m Patrick”
The video game references are still mixed into his lyrics and song titles, and I even caught a random Galaga sound effect in the background of “Akuma (BasedDeception9K).” The style also hasn’t changed. The definition of flow in rap lyrics has changed so dramatically over the years that I’m forced to acknowledge Sub9K may be the future and I’m holding onto old standards that no longer exist. There seems to be very little connection between his lyrics and the tempo of his instrumentals though. He spits bar after bar like he’s freestyling at the park without any music at all. There’s not even somebody slapping the picnic table to make a beat. He just keeps going and barely even slows down to catch a breath. On a decent instrumental it’s tolerable. On “Playstation (YungMojo)” it’s not.
For me this is what holds Sub9K back the most. If he was spitting this same style over some straight fire I could at least hang on and appreciate the fact he’s a lyrical machine gun and not an AutoTune singer. At times I can get there for songs like “Beyonce (Evil Giane).” The bass thumps like a motherfucker and he’s attempting to fit a million punchlines back to back into a 94 second track. It feels like if he could have doubled the length of the instrumental and slowed down the delivery a little bit this would be pure fire. He got me with the “Feel like Undertaker vs. Kane” line too. You know I’m a sucker for pro wrestling references. Sub9K loves video games and the squared circle. I can dig it.
Speaking of wrestling references, I really want to like “Devil Trigger” more than I do, “and that’s the bottom line because Stone Cold said so.” No but seriously I feel like Sub9K is a good kid with a lot of ambition and hustle. I sense a lot of youthful exuberance in what he’s doing, and he may literally be ADHD to the point he can’t slow down even if he wants to. I know the feels bruh. The problem is that it’s not easy to recommend someone’s music just because “he’s a good kid that really tries hard.” I want Sub9K to put it all together. Thanks in large part to Spotify the game became putting out as much material as you could as fast as you could to game the system and scrape any pennies out of their tight fisted wallets you could. I’m not saying it hasn’t worked for Sub9K, Lil B or anybody else — I’m just saying that sometimes less can be more. I hope if I skip ahead a couple more years that’s what I’ll hear.